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Do or Die: Yanks, Tigers play decisive Game 5 in the Bronx

Oct 6, 2011 - 2:31 PM (Sports Network) - For the second straight year an American League Division Series will come down to a decisive fifth game, as the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers both try to punch their tickets to the AL Championship Series.

New York staved off elimination on Tuesday, as Curtis Granderson made a pair of sparkling catches in center field and the Yankees exploded for six runs in the eighth inning to stay alive with a 10-1 win.

With the Yankees teetering on being eliminated from the playoffs, the two-time All-Star made a leaping catch to turn back a bases-loaded rally in the opening inning and made an even more impressive diving grab to likely save a run from scoring in the sixth.

"Who knows what could have happened at that point," Granderson said. "If we get behind in an elimination game here in Detroit, the fans stay in it, the fans get more into it. Now, everything is staying neutral and we were able to go ahead and keep it right where we wanted to."

The Yankees also brought out the lumber Tuesday, piling up 13 hits, including Derek Jeter's two-run double in the third and seven singles during the eighth inning.

A.J. Burnett (1-0) allowed four hits, including a homer to Victor Martinez, and had four walks and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

"I was proud of what he did," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "In a must-win situation for us, he pitched one of his best games of the year."

Rick Porcello (0-1) gave up five hits and four runs over six innings.

As important as Granderson's plays were, the biggest thing to come out of the win may have come in the eighth inning when the Yankees turned a three-run lead into a nine-run rout. Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, who entered the frame having gone a combined 1-for-26 in the series, had three hits in the uprising. Perhaps that was a sign of things to come for the two struggling sluggers.

That would certainly make things easier for rookie right-hander Ivan Nova, who will take the ball for the Yankees in Thursday's Game 5 following a terrific outing to complete the Game 1 suspension.

"I don't see the reason to feel pressure," Nova said. "Like I always say, if you get nervous, you're going to be in trouble because you can't control yourself. You can't control what you have to do."

Nova took over for CC Sabathia on Saturday and turned in 6 1/3 solid innings, as he allowed two runs and four hits. The young hurler still hasn't lost since June 3 and hasn't tasted defeat at home since falling to Kansas City way back on May 12.

"Once you get to October, there are no rookies," Teixeira said. "This is a guy that's won a lot of games for us, been in a lot of big spots and pitched great. You saw what he did in Game 1. He's not scared."

He'll be opposed by his Game 1 counterpart Doug Fister, who pitched better than his line indicated last Saturday. Fister absorbed the loss and was charged with six runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of work.

"Everybody wants to be in that position," Fister said. "Everybody wants to be that guy on the mound in that kind of critical game. It's an honor for me to do it. At the same time, it's just another game, a little more important than the game [Tuesday night]. The game at hand is always the one that's most important."

Fister was huge down the stretch for the AL Central champion Tigers, as he went 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) after being picked up from Seattle.

"Fister is a really good pitcher," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Nova is a good pitcher. He beat us in the first game here. It's one game. I don't know what's going to happen. Somebody can get a good bounce or a bad bounce. Somebody can hit a dramatic home run. Somebody can make an error. I can't predict that."

One player who should be well rested is Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who has pitched just one inning this series and not since that Game 1 outing last Saturday. He will be available for more than one inning tonight. Girardi also said that CC Sabathia could be available tonight, as well, while Leyland stated he would not use Justin Verlander.

Tonight's contest will mark only the second such showdown in this round since 2005 and only the 15th since the advent of Division Series play in 1995. However, in the 14th previous decisive contests, the home team has won just six times.

"We have an opportunity," Girardi said. "We have an opportunity to win a series. We fought all year long to have home-field advantage. Hopefully, we can get it done on Thursday."

The Yankees, who are trying to reach the ALCS for the third straight season, have appeared in five of those 15 series and have won three of them. Tonight's Game 5 will be a first for the Tigers, who haven't appeared in a decisive Game 5 in the current Division Series format.

Detroit also hasn't won a do-or-die game since beating St. Louis in Game 7 of the 1968 World Series.

The Tigers, who last advanced to the ALCS in 2006 after taking out the Yankees in four games of the ALDS, also took four of seven from the Yanks during this season after the two teams split the eight-game season series a year ago.

Tonight's winner will play the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the ALCS on Saturday. Texas advanced to the next round with a four-game win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the other ALDS, one year beating them in a fifth game in this round.